Artistic Staff
Rossen Milanov, Music Director
“one who bears watching by anyone who cares about the future of music” (Chicago Tribune)
Named as Artistic Director of The Philadelphia Orchestra at The Mann Center for the Performing Arts in March 2006, Rossen Milanov also serves as Music Director of the New Symphony Orchestra in his native city of Sofia, Bulgaria; Chief Conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony; and as Music Director of New Jersey’s Symphony In C, one of the USA’s leading professional training orchestras.
Current season highlights include debuts with Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Komische Oper, Berlin, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera (with a ballet triple-bill), and he makes his Carnegie Hall debut with the St. Luke’s Orchestra. Re-invitations include both Seattle Symphony and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestras.
In the USA Mr Milanov has led concerts at the Aspen Festival, the Baltimore Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Grand Teton Festival. Internationally he has worked with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Youth Orchestra, the Lucerne Symphony, the Residentie Orchester, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in a new production of Le sacre du Printemps and Petrushka danced by the ballet of the Grande Theatre du Geneve.
With The Philadelphia Orchestra, Mr Milanov’s recent highlights have included critically acclaimed concerts at the Orchestra’s summer series at Mann Center, at the Bravo! Vale Valley Music Festival, and in subscription concerts at Kimmel Center, including performances of Adams’s Violin Concerto with Leila Josefowicz, Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto with Yo-Yo Ma, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15, and the world premiere of Nicholas Maw’s English Horn Concerto commissioned by the orchestra for Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia.
Rossen Milanov has conducted Argento’s Postcard from Morocco, and most recently Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta, both with the Curtis Institute; and last summer’s concert performances of La boheme with the Philadelphia Orchestra both at Mann Center and at Bravo! were received with critical acclaim. He has worked with the legendary Bulgarian bass Nikolai Ghiaurov, and last season led the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra in a European tour featuring Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova.
His recording of works by the Russian composer Alla Pavlova with the Moscow Philharmonic is available on the Naxos label; and a live performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 15 is available online though Philadelphia Online.
Mr Milanov studied conducting at the Juilliard School (where he received the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship), the Curtis Institute of Music, Duquesne University, and the Bulgarian National Academy of Music. He has received the Award for Extraordinary Contribution to Bulgarian Culture, awarded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, and in 2005 was chosen as Bulgaria’s Musician of the Year.
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Petko Dimitrov, Assistant Conductor: Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Chair
Dimitrov made his debut as a conductor with The New Symphony Orchestra, Sofia, Bulgaria, in May 1998, performing a concert of British music by Sir Michael Tippet and Henry Purcell, in collaboration with The British Council. Since then he has been an Assistant Conductor and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra and has performed subscription concerts, as well as commissions regularly. He has also been active as a Conductor of a Chamber Ensemble of The New Symphony Orchestra.
Since 2001 Dimitrov has been studying and working in the United States. In 2004 he completed his Masters Degree in Orchestra Conducting at the University of Michigan, under the direction of Kenneth Kiesler. In 2006 Dimitrov finished his studies with Gustav Meier at the Peabody Conservatory, pursuing a Graduate Performance Diploma in Orchestral Conducting. As Assistant Conductor for the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Dimitrov was called upon to conduct Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring.
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Daniel Dorff, Composer-in-Residence
Dorff's works have been performed by the Baltimore Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, and Eastman Wind Ensemble; chamber concerts of the Chicago Symphony and St. Louis Symphony, on the 1998 Chicago Symphony Radiothon, by clarinetists of the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic, by pianist Marc-André Hamelin and flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal, and conducted by maestros Alan Gilbert and Wolfgang Sawallisch. Dorff has also created arrangements for Sir James Galway, Keith Emerson, and Lisa Loeb.
Highlights of 2008-09 include the Philadelphia Orchestra performing Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and the Baltimore Symphony in five performances of The Tortoise and the Hare.
Daniel Dorff was born in New Rochelle, NY in 1956; acclaim came early with First Prize in the Aspen Music Festival's annual composers' competition at age 18 for his Fantasy, Scherzo and Nocturne for saxophone quartet. Dorff received degrees in composition from Cornell and University of Pennsylvania; teachers included George Crumb, George Rochberg, Karel Husa, and Henry Brant.
Recent premieres include a piano concerto for Jeffrey Biegel, and The Day Things Went Wrong At The Pet Store, which pianist Sheryl Lee presented in Carnegie/Weill Recital Hall. Other recent concerts have included the New Jersey Saxophone Quartet presenting Fast Walk in Carnegie Hall, and in March 2008, three of Dorff's chamber works for flute were performed at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center.Symphony in C recently recorded an all-Dorff CD on Bridge Records, featuring Ann Crumb and Ukee Washington as narrators, conducted by Rossen Milanov.
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